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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 9601902" data-attributes="member: 7737">Commentary:On a failure, Pazuzu's "blast of psionic energy" is unaffected by the sceptre…Pazuzu's psionic assault is so overwhelming…Freakin' psionics, man! Not only did Arno's player convince the DM the allow Detect Magic Radar Emplacements, he also convinced the DM to use the psionics rules for the summoned demon.Psionics appeared in the AD&D Players Handbook Appendix I, starting on page 110. There was only a tiny chance for a non-cheated character to possess psionics: you needed an unmodified INT, WIS, or CHA of 16+, then to roll 100 on percentile dice, modified slightly downwards in the usual arcane AD&D fashion. And I quote:For each 1 point of intelligence above 16 add 2½ to the dice roll, for each 1 point of wisdom above 16 add 1½ to the dice roll, and for each 1 point of charisma above 16 add ½ to the dice roll (drop all fractions).So even the most cheaty character ever, with natural 18s in INT, WIS, and CHA would have only2½ + 2½ + 1½ + 1½ + ½ + ½ = 9 → gets added to whatever we roll on percentile dice, targeting 100 → means we need to roll 91-100 on percentile dice → 10% chance for psionics.That didn't stop my friends and me from "luckily" having psionics on way, way, WAY more than 1%-10% of our characters.---Monsters, of course, are not player characters. They don't have to count up fractions based on their mental ability scores, then roll percentile dice, then repeatedly accidentally knock over the dice until said dice show 00. (Not that I ever did anything so flagrantly dishonest.)Monsters merely need to be consulted in the relevant manual to see what psionics they are granted. A lot of them havePSIONIC ABILITY: Nilbut plenty have something like, for example, the Astral DevaPSIONIC ABILITY: 210    Attack / Defense Modes: ABCE / FGHThen you'd need to refer back to the PH to see the letter codes for the Modes, and….Y'know what? Let's just look at Pazuzu in the AD&D Monster Manual II (1983).[ATTACH=full]398179[/ATTACH]Pazuzu has all psionic attack modes and is flat-out immune to psionic attacks so doesn't need any defenses listed. That seems unfair, but it is a demon and they don't give a crap about things like "rules" and "fair play".We see from the MM2 writeup that this demon is indeed known by the name 'Pazzuzeus' (with two Zs for some reason), so whenever we get to the section of the gamebook that tells us about 'Pazuzeus', it's the same entity.In the second paragraph we learn how Pazuzu's "especial joy" is to corrupt lawful good clerics and paladins, as he has done in this gamebook. Saying its name three times is "the summons [that] brings Pazuzu to the person speaking." There are several other tidbits about Pazuzu in the MM2 writeup that I will return to at a later time. For now, back to OUR Carr Delling.</blockquote>

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